The sky on December 1, 1940 — as it really was
That day the Sun stood in Ophiuchus, while the horoscope says "Sagittarius". The gap is 23.0° of precession.
Bodies on the ecliptic (noon UTC)
- ☉︎ Sun — 249.2° · sign Sagittarius · constellation Ophiuchus
- ☽︎ Moon — 277.7° · sign Capricorn · constellation Sagittarius
- ☿︎ Mercury — 229.3° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♀︎ Venus — 216.1° · sign Scorpio · constellation Virgo
- ♂︎ Mars — 217.1° · sign Scorpio · constellation Libra
- ♃︎ Jupiter — 37.1° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ♄︎ Saturn — 39.2° · sign Taurus · constellation Aries
- ☽︎ Moon 6% illuminated
astronomy-engine ephemerides (VSOP87/ELP), IAU 1930 constellation boundaries. Positions accurate to a fraction of a degree.
The day’s dossier, from real data
Checkable facts with a tag and a source; the classical reading is in the chart.
- The Moon that day [EXACT]
waxing crescent, 6% lit; the Moon was 373,824 km away.
astronomy-engine - How far Earth has travelled since [EXACT]
85.8 orbits of the Sun — 80,674 million km, that is 104,935 return trips to the Moon; 31,354 rotations of Earth; with the Sun — 623.1 billion km around the Galactic centre, 24.1 light-days.
29.78 km/s along the orbit; 230 km/s around the Galactic centre - Mars then and now [EXACT]
On that day Mars was 354 million km away; today it is 244 million km (closer by 1.5×).
astronomy-engine; checked against JPL Horizons for 2026-09-14 - When the sky repeats [EXACT]
Mars returns to that day’s point of its orbit on June 9, 2027; Jupiter — in 2035; a full moon exactly on this date — November 30, 2039
sidereal periods: Mars 686.98 d, Jupiter 11.862 yr - How far the sky has drifted since [EXACT]
The vernal point has shifted 4,320″ since that day; the real constellations now sit 23° away from the astrologers’ “signs”.
precession 50.29″/yr
Other dates
Computed from the date only; nothing about you is stored.